Tyra Williams
Photograph of Tyra Williams, obtained from Dasecret Istowin on Facebook.
Just look at her: Tyra Williams’s beauty shone through no matter her circumstances. As Debra Bennett, her friend and advocate, told the Miami Herald, Tyra was beautiful even in “a place devoid of any quality makeup.”
Tyra Williams was a loving and loved woman. She lost her battle with COVID-19 on June 25, 2020 at the tender age of 41. Incarcerated since 2009 at Homestead Correctional Institution near the southernmost part of Florida, she leaves behind a large network of devastated friends and family.
Photograph of Tyra with Dasecret (center), obtained from Dasecret Istowin on Facebook.
Tyra’s cousin, Dasecret Istowin, posted on Facebook after her passing:
“SLEEP WAS VERY UNEASY & SPIRIT VERY BOTHERED LAST NIGHT. NEVER THOUGHT THAT ON, 02/15/20, THAT WOULD BE THE LAST VISIT, THE LAST HUG, THE LAST I LOVE YOU, THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU TYRA...SLEEP IN PEACE CUZ, UNTIL WE MEET ON THE OTHER SIDE FAMILY. 🙁😢”
Over 200 comments from family and friends populated Dasecret’s post in a collective mourning of Tyra’s death. Commenters commonly used the phrase “S.I.P.,” or “Smile in Peace,” rather than the more conventional “Rest in Peace.” This tendency is revealing of Tyra’s character: she was a woman who persevered and who hoped, not one who sat idly by.
Many expressed their disbelief at the tragic news. “Dam, Tyra I love you rest up baby.” “[H]omie your cousin is a free woman now.” “Man I loved her.” “U will b truly miss cuz luv u.” Dasecret summed up the sentiments with the hashtag, #LONGLIVETYRA.
Photograph of Tyra, obtained from Dasecret Istowin on Facebook.
As the first woman to die from the virus in the Florida prison system, Tyra was part of a mounting crisis in the jurisdiction. In Homestead alone, 302 out of 660 women incarcerated there tested positive for the virus in June, and experiencing symptoms for COVID-19 has become commonplace within the prison. Dire situations are rapidly developing at other facilities in the state, and advocates are furiously working to obtain conditions in which no others will experience the same tragic outcome as Tyra.
Debra Bennett, who is among these advocates, remembers Tyra as always providing “a good conversation” and as “a wise woman.” She adds, definitively, “Tyra was a vibrant life we didn’t have to lose.”
We mourn the life of this incredible woman, taken too soon. Smile in Peace, Tyra Williams.
This memorial was written by MOL team member Eliza Kravitz with information from Dasecret Istowin on Facebook and reporting by Samantha J. Gross of the Miami Herald.